tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367161100956691682.post350202097994461954..comments2024-01-28T09:52:30.550-08:00Comments on Arash's World: What about Empathy?: A Review of The Science of Evil Arash Farzanehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000344680925876563noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367161100956691682.post-28639193101519844672013-03-16T11:41:43.900-07:002013-03-16T11:41:43.900-07:00Thank you, Vincent for your observations. To respo...Thank you, Vincent for your observations. To respond to them, I must make some clarifications first. <br /><br />Cruelty to animals is somewhat mentioned in the sense that it is one of the manners on how to generally spot psychopaths. Committing unnecessary acts of cruelty is a definite sign of a lack of empathy. To eat meat, however, in my own view, is not necessarily so. <br /><br />To destroy or pollute the environment is an act of cruelty to a degree, but since we are not dealing with a sentient being (though I do believe that nature is more alive than we are in many ways) it is hard to make a strong case here. Our laws and psychology manuals, for better or worse, do not define them so currently.<br /><br />As to religion, Baron-Cohen does mention it to a degree but he is very prudent and cautious. He does not openly condemn them but makes understood that many acts of cruelty and many cases of lack of empathy are directly linked to matters of religion. Just look at the Spanish Inquisition and it looks like we are dealing with psychopaths here. Their fervent beliefs make them completely blind to the sufferings of their victims through elaborately painful forms of torture.<br /><br />But again, I think what we term as evil is also independent of religion. If we could erase all religions in the world, evil would still exist. <br /><br />Religion happens to be rather good at channeling these negative forces within each of us; and I hope that all people turn on their empathy circuit and are not led astray by such radical concepts. What many often do not realize that in essence, religions would or should prefer peace and tolerance, not war on our fellow beings.Arash Farzanehhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12000344680925876563noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1367161100956691682.post-85902457353429579292013-03-10T04:05:51.127-07:002013-03-10T04:05:51.127-07:00I think this is an excellent & provocative ove...I think this is an excellent & provocative overview; perhaps of the topic, perhaps of the book. <br /><br />I note that throughout you refer to evil as something between persons. Cruelty to animals is not mentioned, nor other forms of destructiveness such as wanton plundering of our ecology or natural resources.<br /><br />But leaving the book to one side (inevitably as I haven't read it) I think it's necessary to say that evil is a religious and not a philosophical concept. The thing which keeps it alive as a topic is its conflict with the notion of an all-powerful and beneficent God, making it seem to exist as an anti-god, i.e. devil.<br /><br />If we eliminate that notion of God from our view, we're able to see evil as the personification of a human reaction to something threatening, disgusting or morally intolerable: in short an emotion felt by the perceiver of evil, rather than a self-existent entity.<br /><br />Did Baron-Cohen not discuss such a view?Vincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18297306807695767580noreply@blogger.com